Door latch



Oct. 11, 1932.

s. MADSEN DOOR LATCH Filed Juhe 10, 1931 y W Z 0mg Patented ocafu, 1932UNITED STATE PATENT OFFICE SEEN MADSEN, OF CLINTON, IOWAQASSIGNOR TOCURTIS COMPANIES, INCORIOBATED,

OF CLINTON, IOWA, A CORPORATION OF IOWA variety of conditions. 'Forexample,

noon m'rcn My invention relates to a latch intended,

primarily foruse with cupboards, cabinets, refrigerators and the like,where a rigid tight lock is desired, and where there are varied andnumerous conditions of installation.

There are so many kinds of doors and different types of installationthat diiferent kinds of latches are required for the differenttypes ofdoors and installations.

t is my purpose to provide a latch of very simple and inexpensive and ateffective construction, which can be insta led on numerous difi'erentkinds of doors and under a cat can install my latch on both flush anlip-type doors. It may be installedon the right or left-hand door at thetop, bottom or side edge with equal convenience, ease and eifectiveness.

Another purpose'is to provide such a latch which will operate very easiland under all conditions. A pull on the andle first releases the latchand thenserves to open the taken on the line 2-.--2 of Figure 1.

door. The latch automatically engages when the door is closed. Withthese and other objects in view, my invention consists in theconstruction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of mydoor latch, whereby the objects contemplated are attained; ashereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, andillustrated in the accompanying drawin in which:

igure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a cabinet door equippedwith a latch embodying my invention. Figure 2 is a vertical, detail,sectional view Figure 3 is a horizontal, detail, sectiona view taken onthe line 3-3 of Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a face view of a strike plate.

In the accompanying drawin I have used the reference numeral 10 toindicate the door and the numeral 11 to indicate the jamb. The door isof the lip type having the lip 10a, bland the jamb has the rabbet 12 toreceive the y improved latch consists generally of the followingparts-an outer housing and han-' dle, an inner housing and swingingbolt, a plunger pin, and a strike plate.

A handle 17 has the spaced side walls 18 V pivoted on the intle lfi. Theswinging movement of the andle 17 is limited in one direction by thedown-turned portion 15.

. In installing the latch on a door, a hole 19' is made through the doorfor the plan er pin 20. 'The' base the plunger pin.

A spring 22 is mally holding the andle 17 in its straight down-hangingposition. The spring .is

ear-

plate 13 has a hole 21 or wound on the pintle 16 and has one end ingagainst the plate 13 and the other end bearing against the handle 17between the pintle 16 and the stop 15. d

The inner housing and latch plate will now be referred to.

referably used for nor- The housings are described in their positions asshown in the drawing, but it is obvlous that they can be rotated todiflerent positions where that seems desirable.

The inner housing indicated at 24 has the topa-nd bottom members 24a and246, the

end wall 240 farthest from the door, and the A side wall 24d at oneside, the other side being open as shown.

The/end opposite the end 240 has aportion inturned between-the walls 24aand 24b to form a base plate 240,- and has theup-turned and down-turnedenga ing flanges 24] for fastening to the inside 0 the door by screws 725 or the like.

The base plate portion 24:; has a hole 26 for the plunger pm 20. Thepintle pin 27 is mounted in the walls 24a and 246 at the corner of theinner or,

latch housing 2d near the end 240 and the open side of the housing.

The swinging bolt 28 is substantially V- shaped or angular in outlineand has upper and lower walls 28a and 28b and a connecting wall 280extending from its apex, as shown for instance in Figures 1 and 3, and ashorter connecting wall 28d connecting its walls 28a and 28b andterminating short of the apex.

The parts are installed so that the plunger pin 20 bears against thewall 28d.

A spring 30 has a short coil wound on the pintle 27 and has one end inengagement with the wall 280 and the other end connected with the wall246, for instance as illustrated in Figure 3. This spring thus serves tohold the swinging bolt 28 in what might be called its open position.

The engaging edge of the swinging bolt is curved nearly on the arcing ofa circle with its center at the center of the pintle 27. There is aslight flattening of this curve about where the bolt ordinarily engagesthe strike plate when the door is closed.

The strike plate is indicated at 31 and is polygonal in outline and hasa hole 32 (Figure 3) arranged at different distances from its edges toreceive the screw 33, which arrangement will be hereafter referred to.

In installation, the hole 19 is preferably first drilled or bored in thedoor 10. Then the outer housing is installed in proper position. Thenthe inner housing is properly installed and fastened in place by meansof screws 25 similar to those already referred to. Finally the strikeplate is installed in place. 0

If there is a need for varying the pos tion of the striking edge of thestrike plate, e 1ther at the time of original installation or later asthe parts may possibly shrink or expand a little, the strike plate canbe readily adjusted by loosening the screw and turning the strike platefor presenting another edge to the latch bolt.

It will be seen that a latch of this kind meets the problems mentionedin my statement of my objects and has a number of 1mportant advantages.

The plunger pin 20 may be made of maximum length and may then be cut toproper length for thinner doors so that the same latch part may be usedfor doors of various thicknesses.

The inner housing 24 may be placed as shown in Figure 1 in what might becalled a horizontal position or if the latch is installed at the top orbottom of a door may be given a quarter turn and-on account of thearrangement of the plunger pin 20, this can be readily done withoutinterfering with' operating portion engaging the inner end of theoperation or efiiciency of the latch.

The operation of the latch is very 'slmple. Assuming that the door isopen, it may be pushed toward closed position, whereupon the swingingbolt 28 will engage the strike plate and be pressed into the casing 24against the tension of the spring 30 until the edge of the bolt clearsthe edge of. the

strike plate, whereupon the bolt will swing v to the position shown inFigure 3. After that any force directed outwardly on the door will onlytend to lock the latch more securely. When, however, it is desired toopen the door, all that is necessary is to grasp the handle," swing iton its pivot until the locking bolt is released, and then continue thepull for opening the door.

It will be seen that a latch made as herein described can be used onmany difierent door structures and in various types of installations andthat only a simple adjustment is necessary to adapt the latch for thevarious conditions under which it is to be used.

It is contemplated that the latch may be made of various materials andthat some changes might readily be adopted in its construction andarrangement of parts, and it is, of course, my purpose to cover by theclaims of the patent 'to be issued upon this application any variationsin structure or arrangement or employment of mechanical equivalentswhich may be within their scope and within, the scope of the advance inthe art made by my invention.

1 claim as my invention:

l. The combination of a door and a jamb with inside and outside members,and a connecting operating pin, the inside member having a swingingretractable bolt for engaging a strike plate on the door jamb, and saidbolt hinged inwardly from the inside face of the door, having a portionwhich engages the strike plate substantially in the plane of the insideface of the door and. an operating portion extending normally parallelto the plane of the door and engaging the inner end of the operatingpin, a spring arranged to normally extend the bolt to locking positionwith relation to the strike plate, the outside member having a spring, astop and a fulcrumed handle spaced outwardly from the face of the doorand normallyheld in a plane parallel to the door b the spring theoperating pin, a spring arranged to nor.- mally extend the bolt tolocking position with relation to the jamb, the outside member having astop and a fulcrumed handle spaced out ward'ly from the face of the doorand norraeaaee I t Iii mally held in a plane parallel to the door by thespring and stop, and provided with a finger which moves toward the doorwhen the handle is pulled away from the door, whereby inward motion istransmitted through the operating pin to the swinging bolt in the insidemember.

3. In a latch structure for a door, an outer 'member, a handle pivotedthereto, an inner member, a bolt pivoted thereto and spring urged towardlatched position, said members being mounted on opposite faces of saiddoor and a thrust pin interposed between said handle and said bolt andserving as an operative connection between them, said thrust pinextending at substantially right angles to the faces of said doorwhereby to operate regardless of the radial direction of extension ofthe bolt from said thrust pin.

I 4. In a door latch construction, a plunger pin adapted to extendthrough a door at right angles to the faces thereof, inner and outermembers adapted to be applied to said faces, a handle fulcrumed on theouter member, one end of which engages the pin member passing throughthe door to impart endwise motion thereto, a swinging latch bolt pivotedon the inner member having a door jamb' edge engaging portion and anoperating extension arranged to be in contact with thepin through thedoor, portions of both the inner and outer members serving as supportsand guides for sliding of the pin relative to the members and forrotation of the members relative to the-pin when installing the doorlatch construction on the door.

5. In a latch structure, an outer member, a handle fulcrumed thereto, aninner member, a bolt pivoted thereto, said outer and inner members beingmounted on a door or the like and a member interposed between the handleand the bolt and extending at substantially right angles relative to thefaces of the door, said handle and bolt being rotatable relative to saidlast mentioned member whereby the handle may beused to actuate the boltwhen the inner member is mounted to project its bolt in' any one of avariety of directions and the outer member is mounted to project itshandle in anyone of a variety of directions.

6. The combination of a door, a jamb, inside and outside members and aconnecting operating pin, the inside member havin a swinging retractiblebolt which has a portion which engages said-jamb and an operatingportion engaging the inner end-of said operating pin, a spring arrangedto normally extend said bolt to locking. position with relation to saidjamb, said outside member having a stop and a fulcrumed handle normallyheld against said stop by said spring and provided with a finger whichmoves toward the door when the handle is pulled away from the door,whereby inward motion is transmitted through the operating pin to theswinging bolt of the inside member. I

7. The combination of a jamb anda door with inside and outside membersand a connecting operating pin, said inside member having a swingingretractible bolt which has ing bolt is retracted. I

.- SEEN MADSEN.

